Toronto Sun HOLLYWOOD -- The sound building across the
continent is a declaration that upcoming teen drama Dawson's
Creek will be the best new show of the year. The background
static is Alanis Morissette missing the boat on the smart,
sensitive series created by Hollywood's hottest young writer,
Kevin Williamson. He already has movie hits Scream, Scream II and
I Know What You Did Last Summer to his credit. Morissette's Hand
In My Pocket was used as Dawson's Creek's theme song in all of
its not-for-broadcast presentations to critics and advertisers,
but it won't be heard when it premieres on WB stations Jan. 20 --
even though the mini-network's parent company, Warner Bros., is
Morissette's record label. "Try as we might, at least for
the time being, she didn't want to let her music be used,"
says WB Entertainment division president Garth Ancier.
"That's not been true of other artists." The show did
successfully clear soundtrack songs from Jewel, Sheryl Crow, No
Doubt and The Cardigans, and Ancier expects it to feature more
hot pop in upcoming episodes, drawing on both Warner artists and
recording stars from Sony TriStar, which is producing the series.
Both companies consider the show a promotional asset and album
covers from groups that do get onboard will be displayed in the
show's closing credits.

Some of Alanis' songs eventually did appear on Dawson's Creek. That I
Would Be Good was played in episode #308 ("Guess Who's Coming To Dinner") and
the season 2 finale ("Parental Discretion Advised" - #222), Hands Clean was
played in the season 5 episode "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" (#520). Most
notably of all, the original opening credits from the original unaired pilot
were shown during part of the series finale, "...Must Come To An End."
They were shown as if they were a video Dawson had made many years earlier; and
included the original recording of Hand In My Pocket.